Baker regenerated for `dream' job

Pitchers, catchers, boom box arrive

MESA, Ariz. — The opening day of Cubs spring training camp Thursday brought out the new and the old to Fitch Park.

Kerry Wood was wearing a wedding ring after his off-season nuptials, while Rod Beck returned sporting a nipple ring and a shaved head.

New catcher Damian Miller was chilling out by his locker after spending the winter in his hometown of LaCrosse, Wis., while Sammy Sosa's old boom box was already set up on the other side of the clubhouse, awaiting the arrival of the fashionably late slugger.

Soon enough, the latest in a long line of Cubs managers was in the house, preparing to find a solution to a 95-year-old problem of winning a World Series.

Despite all the major life changes Dusty Baker has undergone in the last 14 months--from prostate surgery to the World Series to unemployment to the Cubs job--Baker said he was healthy and relaxed and ready to begin this new phase of his career.

Baker recently spoke to former professional coaches Al Attles and Bill Walsh as well as current Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren for advice about changing jobs. They told him basically the same thing.

"Sometimes you have to regenerate yourself," Baker said. "It was a sad affair, the way it ended [in San Francisco]. It's not the script I would've written. In my life, I've been handed a few seemingly impossible tasks. But this is a situation any coach would dream of--winning in Chicago."

The Cubs handed Baker a four-year contract worth an estimated $14 million to try to turn a 95-loss team into a contender, gambling that a charismatic leader can change a team's attitude and success level.

Wood, already playing for his fourth Cubs manager at 25, argued the right skipper might be just as important as any free-agent pickup.

"A manager can make a big difference," Wood said. "Especially coming into spring training with a group of new guys, and especially Dusty, being a high-energy kind of guy.

"That's the first thing you noticed whenever you played those guys in San Francisco--Dusty with his wrist bands and his toothpicks jumping up and down all over the dugout. It makes you almost want to be over there and be a part of it.

"I've talked to the rest of the guys, and we're really looking forward to having his enthusiasm and attitude around us."

Baker emphasized he won't be running a "boot camp" but said players will have "to earn their way onto the team."

He said he doesn't believe he'll have any problems dealing with a new set of players and won't try to bond with everyone individually in the opening days of camp.

"Every year you have new players," Baker said. "If I feel the need to call you in, I'll call you in. There are a few guys I'll talk to, to get to know. Some guys might not want you to know them, and some you probably have to shut up sometimes. It'll work itself out.

"You can't force anything on people. You have to let some of it be natural and let some of it be gradual. If it's gradual enough, people won't even know it's happening."

Baker doesn't plan to select team captains, as predecessor Don Baylor did with Sosa, Joe Girardi and Kevin Tapani.

"Did it help?" Baker said with a grin, knowing the answer before he asked.

Baker won't be seeking a motivational guru to change the players' self-image. He's an old-school manager with some decidedly old-school ideas.

"It's a game and it's supposed to be fun, like we've experienced in the past," Wood said. "Most of the time I've been here, in July and [afterward] it's not as fun anymore. I'd like to see a lot more winning. It makes it much more enjoyable to come to the ballpark in August."